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A. F. CHANDLER.

Potato-Digger.

No. 63,612. Patented Apr. 9, 1867.

lnventom Witnesses:

AM. PHOTO-LITHO. CO. NX (OSEDRHES PROCESS.)

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ALBERT F. CHANDLER, 0F WINTHROP, MAINE. Letters Patent No. 63,612, dated April 9, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINE FOR DIGGING POTATOES.

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TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME:

Be it known that I, ALBERT F. CHANDLER, of Winthrop, in the county of Kennebec, and State of Maine. have invented anew and useful Machine or Implement for Digging Potatoes, and do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, due reference being had to the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention, and in which Figure 1 is a perspectiveriew; and

Figure 2 a rear end elevation of the said machine.

Figure 3 is a vertical section of the same, taken through the adjustable bearing of the driving mechanism to be hereinafter described.

By referring to-thesedrawings 1n the different figures, of which like letters indicate like parts, it will be seen that A represents a. beam constructed in manner similar to that of an ordinary plough, having a clevis, a, attached to its forward end for connecting the draught animals to it, and having two handles, 6 b, for supporting and guiding the implement. In place of the usual mould-hoard and land'side I apply to the beam an inclined tubular chute or conductor, 13, havinga fiat ploughshare applied to its under part for taking into the ground below the hill of potatoes, for the purpose of guiding the potatoes into the chute B, as well as for supporting and guiding the machine as it may be inclined to the right and left from a vertical position. To the rear part of the chute B I hinge a barred plate or grid, 0, or to an inclined flooring, a rising upward at its rear end, and applied to the interior of the chute B, and having a connecting-rod, d, pivoted to its outer extremity, or to a bail, e, fixed to it, this connecting-rod extending upward, and being jointed at its upper end to the wrist of a crank, f, formed upon the rear extremity of a horizontal shaft, D, which extends lengthwise of and above the beam A, and is supported at one end in a bearing or box',f, swivelled to the beam, and at its forward end in an adjustable sliding standard, 9!, applied to the forward end of the beam by means of legs, a a, etc., which straddle the beam A, and confined to it by a clamp-bar, b, as shown in the drawings. To the forward end of the shaft D a spiral bevelled pinion, it, is fixed; this pinion engaging with a spiral bevelled gear, E, fixed to the inner face of a driving-wheel, F, the two being fixed to a short transverse shaft, 1', supported by the standard g, as represented in the drawings by fig. 3. The standard or bearingg is applied to the beam A in an adjustable manner in order to allow it to be raised or lowered with respect to the surface of the ground in order to vary the depth of the penetration of'the ploughshare. The object of swivelliug the box f to the beam is to allow the shaft to accommodate itself to the rise and fall of the adjustable standard g.

In the operation of the above-described implement it is to be drawn along the ground in line with the hills of potatoes, which will rotate the driving-wheel F and gear E, and put the shaft D in. revolution. This will actuate the crank f so as to cause intermittent vertical movements of the grid' or sifter c. The ploughshare takes into the earth below the potatoes and loosens and throws it up, and guides the potatoes and earth together into and through the barrel or chute B, from whence they pass on to the grid 0, which will shake and sift the earth from the potatoes, and cause them to be deposited in a row upon the surface of the earth. By the peculiar construction and application of the chute or barrel B the potato vines and weeds will not be caught and collected in a heap in front of it, as would -be the case with an ordinarymould-board, but 'will pass through and beyond it during the forward movement of the machine.

I would remark that I have contemplated dispensing with the grid or sii'ter 0, applied as represented in the drawings, and make the inclined flooring 11 before referred to, take the place of it, the said flooring in this case being formed with bars or teeth, and hinged to the forward end of the interior of the chute B, and being connected to the mechanism in the samc manner that the grid now is.

I claim the improved machine for digging potatoes, consisting of the chute B (with its ploughshare or pointer) and the sifter or grid 0, applied to the beam A aud operated by the mechanism before described, consisting of the shaft D, bevelled pinion and gear h and E, and driving-wheel F, substantially in manner and to operate as before described.

I also claim applying the adjustable standards or bearings g and f to the beam A, in manner and for the purpose essentially. as set forth.

I also claim combining with the beam A the tubular chute B, as and for the purpose as explained.

ALBERT r. CHANDLER.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK CURTIS, Onas. H. GRIFFIN. 

